Presumptions, proficiencies, and parallel languages: Investigating academic English reading among Norwegian university students

Norwegians are exposed to English on a daily basis and are considered to be among the most proficient second-language English users in the world. It therefore seems only natural that English and Norwegian should be used in parallel for teaching at university level. Despite this, research has shown that many Norwegian university students struggle with reading academic texts in English. To help understand why this might be, this doctoral thesis investigated aspects of Norwegian university students’ English-language reading strategies, vocabulary knowledge, and reading speed. One part of the study looked at the Norwegian students’ use of reading strategies, such as strategic reading, guessing unknown words or using clues from the context. Despite reporting more difficulties when reading English texts, the students in this sample did not appear to make use of strategies to compensate for these difficulties. In a finding with implications for English teaching in schools, another part of the study found a high degree of variation in English vocabulary scores, for which the main predictor was the amount of English encountered outside of formal education. Finally, a comparison of the speed of reading an academic text between Norwegian university students and matched groups of native and second-language English speakers in the UK found that the Norwegians were significantly slower than both groups in the English-speaking environment. This suggests that slower reading is not purely a consequence of reading in a second language, but perhaps also of the linguistic environment. Overall, it appears that although many of the participants demonstrated the skills and proficiency needed for academic reading in English, many others would be struggling as a result of slow reading, gaps in vocabulary, and inefficient use of strategies to overcome these obstacles. The findings highlight the complexities of academic second-language reading in the parallel language context of Norwegian universities. This linguistic context needs to be considered in developing expectations and offering support to students. Furthermore, the finding that the amount of English encountered outside of formal education played such an important part in the students’ academic reading ability suggests that the way English is taught in schools needs to be reassessed. This study has implications for our understanding of second language reading not only in Norway but in all parts of the world where students increasingly need to read in English as a second language as part of their higher education